Arthritic patients commonly have difficulties in removing closures from medication containers since the operation of removing the closures from medication containers requires a manual dexterity which is beyond the ability of arthritic patients who no longer have full use of their hands. It has been observed that arthritic patients have more control over the movement of the arm and forearm than the movement of the wrist and fingers.
It is known to provide cap removers for medication containers, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,760,763, 4,770,069 and 3,885,478. In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,763, a device is disclosed for gripping the cap of a child resistant medication container which facilitates removal of the cap by an arthritic patient by reducing the amount of gripping action that needs to be carried out by the hand and provides a device which will enable opening a cap using the palm of one's hand. U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,069 discloses a hand-held cap opener for child resistant containers of the kind which are to be pried off, in which the cap opener fits into the palm of the hand and prevents the user from having to use delicate finger action to remove the cap. U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,512 discloses a two-piece, press-twist, child resistant closure which is formed with upwardly extending lugs to assist in holding the outer closure against rotation while being manually pressed and turned using the bottle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,235 describes a closure with upwardly extending tabs to enable manual application of torque to the closure without gripping the side wall thereof.
In the prior art devices, use of the wrist or fingers is required in order to remove the closure. As mentioned above, for arthritic patients it can be impossible to comfortably use the wrist or finger joints to carry out a controlled movement, whereas the use of the forearm and arm can be carried out with greater ease.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a closure with forearm engaging tabs for medication containers which does not require the use of forceful manipulation by the wrist or finger joints.